According to Scott, all a researcher really needs is "a good library or a good inter-library loan system." Everything else, she said, is extraneous.

The New Jersey institute also has a small permanent faculty who work alongside the institute's approximately 180 visiting scholars, which Scott said sets it apart from the new Radcliffe Institute. Permanent faculty members receive a lifetime appointment at the institute, and stay for an estimated 20 to 30 years. Faculty members, whose ranks have included Albert Einstein, tend to be world-renowned scholars in their fields.

"[Radcliffe] won't ever be the same," Scott said. She called Rudenstine's comparison simply "wrong."

"We have faculty," she said. "We're the only institute of its kind that has a faculty."

Fox said that members of the Faculty Council yesterday made note of the fact that the Radcliffe Institute will have no permanent faculty.

The Place of Gender

Despite yesterday's revelations, several details of the merger are still unannounced. For instance, the relative importance of gender studies at the Institute has yet to be determined.

A statement released by the two schools last week said the Institute's mission "will be to create an academic community where individuals can pursue advanced work in the academic disciplines, professions or creative arts."